1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a heat sink for cooling electronic power components which are arranged in a housing, comprising a cooling element having cooling fins arranged on a base surface, and a fan for the intake of ambient air and for delivering the ambient air via the cooling fins of the cooling element, the cooling element comprising a recess in which the fan is arranged spaced apart from the base surface of the cooling element.
Furthermore, the invention relates to a housing for an inverter, in particular a photovoltaic inverter, comprising a housing front and a rear housing part.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heat sinks of the present type, including a combination of heat sink and fan, have been known in different variants. The purpose of such heat sinks lies in the efficient dissipation of the heat loss generated by electronic power components.
The heat sink may be used in most varied areas, such as for the cooling of the inverters of photovoltaic systems, for the cooling of power sources in welding technology, and for the cooling of battery charging systems, in which efficient cooling is necessary and which simultaneously should require as little space as possible.
DE 42 31 122 A1, for example, describes a cooling element comprising a fan placed thereupon. The fan takes in the ambient air and delivers it to the cooling element in an essentially perpendicular manner. In the cooling element, the airflow will be deflected by an angle of 90 degrees and guided to the outside through the cooling fins or cooling ribs, respectively. In this variant of embodiment, it has been found to be particular disadvantageous that the fan is mounted directly on the cooling element, thus necessarily resulting in a higher overall height.
Other known heat sinks include cooling elements, whose cooling fins are not arranged towards the outside in a straight manner but in a curved manner. Other variants include cooling fins which are directed in units in parallel to the outside, starting from the center of the cooling element. For example, the US 2005/0150637 A1 shows a heat sink comprising such a cooling element.
Other heat sinks of the present type are known e. g. from U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,700, U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,971, U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,638, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,438.